Sunday, August 12, 2012

I can't believe that it was May when I said I would definitely Blog more....arggggggggg

Oh well, better later then never.

I'm still possessed..I mean obsessed with knitting. I can't seem to get enough. It's just crazy.

Here are some pictures of my latest works of heart.

This is another "Boo" knit (becoming my favorite shawls to knit) called "Rainshine". I call mine "Falling Droplets". The colour of this one is magical. I love it and it was a joy to knit.

As you can see from the above photo I've fallen off my diet....or I ceased to keep losing weight. I blame it on the fact that I'm on my umpteenth attempt at quitting smoking. Honestly, why don't they just stop making these cancer sticks and then it would be so much easier to quit. The temptation is too much sometimes.

I happened across a designer's forum page on Ravelry (Andrea Black) and was immediately taken with a sweater she had designed "Mary Mary". I loved it. She needed testers. I put my hand up. What was I thinking??? I haven't knit a sweater for about 15 years. YIKES. And so "Rollin in Clover" was born. I think if I was to do it again, I would knit it one size smaller. It fits, but it is loose and I think it should be snugger. I'm pleased with my knitting abilities. It's just knit one, purl 1 isn't it...oh yeah, throw in the odd yarn over and you're all set....easy peasy..

So, sweater done and my new friend Andrea (the designer..keep up will you) then came out with a new shawl "Kyra"....I LOVED it and put up my hand again to test knit it. Andrea was so overwhelmed by my talent with "Mary Mary" that she immediately jumped on the chance of having me do another test knit for her. "Trippin on Caravan" was born. In case you're wondering the names I have given my projects don't really mean anything. For the sweater, I used Madeline Tosh Merino Light in the colour "Clover"..hence the name "Rollin in Clover". For the shawl, I used Tosh Merino Light again in the colour "Caravan"....well, you get the idea.

Ravelry is this magical place, sort of like facebook for knitters. Kind of like walking into "Cheers" (the bar) and feeling right at home. Not everyone knows your name, but you can easily find lots of friends, or at least people that think the same way you do. It just takes a little effort to make some connections. It's wonderful talking to someone who doesn't think it's strange that you have almost 100 skeins of yarn that you really don't have any plans for, or that you say you'll knit along with every project you see and start knitting in your sleep to keep up. It's nice to know that others keep knitting even when their wrist is sore or their shoulders ache. Must get this done by my self imposed deadline.

Sometimes wishing for things can really make them happen. Quite a few months ago I told my husband that I needed to find some knitting buddies. I needed some cool knitting friends to share my dreams with or to just show off my latest project to. Then I started talking on Ravelry and the rest is history. I've met a group of extraordinary women and we've formed our own little piece of Ravelry in the form of a forum. Next year we are planning to meet in New Hampshire in a small town where we are going to learn to dye yarn. It's much more then that though and we all know it. It'll be a weekend of really getting to know each other, laughing a lot and maybe even lifting a few glasses of wine and toasting us. After all, the cyber world is fun, but it's not real is it? Future trips are being spoken of as well, maybe closer to home. It's all good. Now to find a way to make lots of money to afford these trips. And I do have lots of friends at home, only most of them don't knit and look at me funny when I talk about knitting. Most of them would rather be out doing some form of exercise or throwing together some fancy dinner or even doing housework (YIKES), knitting, not so much.

Back in April I decided to take another Craftsy Course by Laura Nelkin. It was Laura's first class "Mastering Lace Shawls" that made me a knitting maniac, so I thought I'd go one stop further and take her knitting with beads class. Last night I finished the shawl - Accola - that I started back then. Accola and I have had a love hate relationship. right now I love it, but a week ago.....not on your life.

I really did not like knitting this one AT ALL. BUT, having said that, I have learned a lot so I'm really glad I took the course. I've learned how to make nupps...hundreds and hundred of frickin stupid nupps. But, now I'm a nupp expert so I'm happy and they are kinda cute. I've learned how to pick up stitches. I hate picking up fricking stitches, but now I know how to do it and I'm an expert. I've learned how to threads hundreds of beads onto a ball of yarn and continually slide them along as you knit from said ball until you hit a knot and have to remove all the beads and re-thread them onto the yarn. I hate this form of beading...but I'm an expert at it now so all is good. I have found the perfect method of attaching beads with a correct size (this is really important) crochet hook and I love it... .6mm thank you very much. I've also learned how to put a bead onto what you're knitting using dental floss. I like doing this much better then flossing my teeth but not as much as hooking with the crochet hook. I've become a knitting expert extraordinaire...

I still have to give my Accola a bath and block her all out but I must show you a sneak peak of her..

I'll come back and add a final picture after she's blocked (this picture was taken even before I added the border along the top with fricking picked up stitches)

I've also been working on a shawl for my sister. She picked out the wool and the pattern and I gotta say that I don't know if I'll allow this again when volunteering to knit something for someone. They'll get a choice of colour and that's it....the rest will be up to me. It's not that it's been horrible to knit it (but it's not finished yet and I started it in June and after I started it I made all the stuff above so you get the picture) Here's a teaser. I'm actually further along but I'd need to take another picture and I'm not sure where I've put this right now. Don't tell my sister ok.

I'm also knitting another Boo Knit...This will be my 3rd. This one is Dare to Dream. This is just a taste. They really don't look like much till they are done.

And that's all I know for now.

There's lots of other stuff going on in my life right now but for this entry I'm just sticking to the knitting....You should be happy as I could just go on and on and on....